NorthStar / Reading and Writing
Basic/ Low Intermediate
Unit 1
Finding The Ideal Job
Vocabulary For
Comprehension
• career: the kind of work a person does, usually after
learning how and usually for a long time
• employment: work someone pays for you
• to hire: to give someone a job
• ideal: perfect
• manager: the person in charge of a group of workers
• out of work: without a job
• resume: a piece of paper with your work and education history
• rewards: good things you get in return for work such as money or
•
health insurance
• satisfied: to feel good or happy about something
• skill: something that you can do well; ability that you have learned
and practiced
Vocabulary for Comprehension /page 3
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2. career 3- resume
4. skill
5. hire
6. want ads
7. satisfied
8. rewards
9. manager
10. employment
11. ideal
Reading for Ideas page 6
1. F
2. F
3. T
4. T
5. F
Reading for details /page 6-7
What many people do to
find a job
Answer newspaper ads
Ask friends to help
Go to an employment
agency
Send out lots of resumes
What Bolles says will
help you find a job
Decide what kind of job
is ideal
Do exercises
Think about your skills
Think about job rewards
Decide what kind of
place you want to work in.
Reacting to the reading /page 78-9
• 1. a
2. b
5.a
• Reading page 8-9
• 1. Bandar
• 2. Amanda
• 3. Betsy
• 4. Amenda
• 5, Betsy
• 6. Bandar
3. b
4. b
Focus on Vocabulary
page 10
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1. money
2. skill
3. vacation
4. secretary
5. city
6. manager
7. newspaper
8. job hunter
9. fact
10. career
Page 10 - 13
• 1. ideal
- 2 . Out of work
3. resume
4. manager
5. hire
6. skills
7. career
• Page 13
• 1. a, c
• 2. b, d
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a, c both have a subject and a verb. B has now verb.
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d has no subject
• Page 14
• 1. cross it
- 2. He is/was
3. He
4. His friends/
boss
5. ?
6. cross he
7. cross started
• 8. Abdullah a is
• Page 15
• 1. Descriptive Adjectives: new- small , great – fun-last –
successful
Page 16- 17
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1. Ahmed is looking for a new career.
2. He didn’t like his old job.
3. Our manager is smart and funny.
4. Juan found his new job in the want ads.
5. My sister is out of work.
6. Richard Bolles has an interesting job.
Page 17
3. The woman is tired and sad. She is busy. She has
long, curly hair. She is smart. Her desk is big Her
desk is messy.
• 3. The doctor is tall and thin . His coat is long. He is
young. His patient is old. She is short. She is happy.
The Book Reviews
Finding the Ideal Job
• What color is your Parachute? A Practical Manual for
Job Hunters and Career Changers, by Richard Nelson
Bolles,
• Ten Speed Press, $16.95.
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1. You are out of work.
You hate your job.
You aren’t satisfied with your career
You are looking for your first job. Where do
you start?
• 2. If you are like most Americans, you’ll probably send
your resume to a lot of companies . You might answer
newspaper want ads every Sunday.. Or you might go to
employment agencies. But experts say you won’t have
much luck. People find jobs only five to fifteen
Finding the Ideal Job
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percent of the time when they use these
methods . So, what can you do?
3. One thing you can do is read Richard Bolles,
What color is your Parachute ‘? Bolles is an
expert in the field of job hunting. He has helped
thousands of people find jobs and careers. This
book is different from other job- hunting
manuals. Bolles doesn’t help you to find just
another job. Instead, he helps you find your
ideal job : a job that fits who you are, a job that
is satisfying to you. What kind of job is ideal for
you? If you don’t know the answer,
Finding The Ideal Job
3.
4.
Bolles says, you can’t find your ideal job. You need to
have a clear picture in your mind of the job you want.
The book has many exercises to help you draw this
picture.
1. Your skills. What do you like to do? What do you do
well? Do you like talking? Helping people? Teaching?
Reading and writing? Using Computers? Working with
your hands? Bolles asks you to think about all your
skills, not only ‘work skills.’ For example, a mother of
four children is probably good at managing people (
children) . She may be a good manager.
Finding The Ideal Job
2. Job setting. Where do you like to work? Do you like to
work outside? At home? In an office? Alone or with
others? What kind of people do you like to work with?
3. Job rewards. How much money do you need? How
much money do you want? What else do you want from
a job?
What would make you feel good about a job?
5. After Bolles helps you decide on your ideal job, he
gives specific advice on how to find the job. His
exercises teach you how to find companies and how to
introduce yourself. The chapter on job interviews is
full of useful information and suggestions. For
example, most people go to interviews asking
themselves the question, ‘ How do I get the company
to hire me?’ Bolles thinks this the wrong question.
Instead, he wants you to ask yourself, ‘ Do I really
want to work for this company?’
Finding the Ideal Job
6. There are two small problems with the book. First,
Bolles writes too much! He explains some of his
ideas over and over again. Second, there is not
space to write the answers to the exercises. But
these are small problems. What Color is Your
Parachute? is the best job- hunting manual available
today.
7. What Color is Your Parachute? was written in 1970.
But the information is updated every year. So, if
you are looking for a job, or if you have a job but
want a new one, remember : Don’t just send out
copies of your resume. Don’t just answer want ads.
And don’t wait for friends to you a job. Instead, buy
this book and do a job hunt the right way.
The Ideal Job
1 Believe it or not, some people get-paid- and well-for
doing the things that make them really happy. Here
are a few people who have found the job of their
dreams.
‘ I know all about job- hunting,’- Betsy
2 A few years ago, I lost my job as a manager in a
factory. I was so unhappy. I was 38 years old, out of
work for the 100th time, and without much hope.
Then, one day I was thinking about the question, ‘
What do I do best? ’ and the answer came to me. I
had been out of work many times, so I knew every
manual about how to find a job or change a career. I
must have been to over 100 interviews in my life,made
1,000 phone calls asking for job, and sent out a
resume to almost 2,000 companies.
The Ideal Job
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When I looked at my skills, I saw that my best
skills were job-hunting skills! So I started my
own company, Career Consulting. It’s a business
that helps people find jobs . I hired two people
to work with me . The three of us work together
on everything, but I’m not the boss. It’s great. I
love the work, and I make a lot of money!
• ‘ I have the most fun job in the world,’ – Amenda
• 3. I have been a matchmaker for 41 years.
Because of me, 60 couples are now happily
married or engaged. I’m a good matchmaker.
•
The Ideal Job
• I have a very good eye for people. And I don’t
mean I match people on how they look. I mean, I
can meet a person just once for ten minutes, and
I know for sure what kind of person he or she is.
I get a feeling. And this feeling tells me, ‘ Oh, he
would be a great husband for Stephanie,’ or ‘ Ah,
now here is the woman for Timothy.’ I can’t
imagine a job that’s more fun. I meet wonderful
people . I work for myself. Nobody tells me what
to do. I make enough money to live a simple life.
And I get so much joy from seeing what stopped
by on their way home from the hospital with their
new baby girl, I’m so happy to think that I helped
make that family !
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The Ideal Job
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‘ I have a job with an incredible view,’
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Teaching skydiving (jumping out of airplanes by
parachute) is so exciting. I love seeing students on
their first jump. They are all nervous and excited .
When they get to the ground, they can’t wait to call
everyone they know and tell them they just jumped out
of an airplane. Later, when they learn to turn and fly
forward, they realize that they’re not just a flying
stone. They realize that they’re like a bird- and they
can fly!
Bandar
Focus on Vocabulary
Cross the word that is not related
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resume: work – history- job hunting, money
want- ad: newspaper- skill- job
salary: vacation- money- job
employment agency: secretary- job hunt- ,
resume
career: city- work- experience
out of work: job hunting- manager- free time
manual: book- information- newspaper
boss: owner- manager- job hunter
factory: fact- company- business
training: school- career- learning
Focus on Writing
• Read the following lines. Then answer the
questions.
a. Abdullah worked for a big camera company
for six years.
b. He’s tired.
c. Teaches mathematics to students at a good
college in Massachusetts.
• 1. Which one are sentences?
• 2. Which aren’t sentences? How do you
know?
Part of the Sentence
1. Every sentence in English must have a subject and a
verb. He works.
S V
A sentence can have a just a subject and a
verb.
But, usually, sentences have other words, too.
He works for an employment agency. Other words
2. In commands( order) , we don’t say or write a
subject.
But the subject of commands is always understood as
‘you’.
3. Subjects come before the verb and often come at
the beginning of the sentence.
Parts of the sentence
4. Subjects can be one word and many words.
They told me it was a great job.
Saeed and Jack told me it was a great job.
Subjects can’t be repeated.
X Don’t say : Saeed he told me it was a great job.
5. The first letter should be capitalized . He is
Ahmed.
A sentence must end with a period. I was bored.
A sentence can end with a question mark. Is it
here?
A sentence can end with an exclamation mark?
I am happier now than ever before!
Grammar- Descriptive Adjectives/ sad- happy
Possessive Adjectives/ my- your-
Descriptive Adjectives describe nouns. They can come
after the verb to be [ is- are-am]. She is smart.
They can come before a noun. She is a smart teacher.
When a noun follows an adjective , use a, an, or the,
before the adjective. [ a- an are used only with count
nouns]
She is a smart teacher. He’s an important writer
The new teacher isn’t here.
X Don’t say : Henry is a smart.
Say: Henry is a smart boy.
Possessive Adjectives
My- your- his- her- its- our- your - their
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Possessive adjectives show belongings.
I have a job. My job is very interesting.
A noun always follows a possessive adjective. My pen
When we use possessive adjectives we don’t use [a,
an, the] . His boss is nice.
• Possessive adjectives have the same form before
singular and plural nouns.
• Your painting is beautiful. Your paintings are
beautiful.
• Possessive adjectives: my- your- his- her- its- yourtheir- our- your
Descriptive Adjectives
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Use descriptive adjective after be[ is- are- am]
Or possessive adjective before a noun.
Big:
It is a big car.
Curly: My hair is curly.
Dirty:
Hungry:
Long:
Messy:
Old:
Sad:
Sleepy: